By JAMES PUGSLEY, 16th December, 2011

Overviewing the agreement and advising employee's of the hurdles to come, Laurent Tapie himself was seen in Ireland this week.

Continuing the complicated process leading to Full Tilt’s re-emergence into the online poker market, Subject Poker today confirmed from multiple sources that Full Tilt’s shareholders have reached a two thirds majority vote to pass company assets onto french investment firm Groupe Bernard Tapie. The majority vote follows GBT’s agreement with the American Department of Justice, roughly one month ago. The deal allowed GBT to purchase Full Tilt’s forfeited assets from the DOJ for around $80 million, provided that FTP agreed to the transfer, and GBT pay back player funds internationally. While in terms of the American market, the DOJ itself will handle the repayment of around $150 million owed to U.S. based players.

Essentially the DOJ has acted as the mediator in this process, which, due to nature of the transaction, could also lead to some fairly heavy taxation for GBT. Regardless, Subject Poker confirmed that Laurent Tapie himself was present in Dublin to arrange the agreement, which looks now to two more steps before GBT can move more quickly with representing itself in the online scene. The next step would be for for actual asset forfeiture to take place, then for GBT to purchase for $80 million, and finally for the Department of Justice to drop all civil proceedings currently held against FTP. This does not, however, include individual indictments taken out against those such as Howard Lederer, Ray Bitar and Chris Ferguson.

The DOJ has acted as "the middleman" in GBT's aquisition of Full Tilt assets, and will be responsible for the repayment of U.S. based players once all steps are taken.

Also relating to Groupe Bernard Tapie, Poker-Red, Spain’s front-runner poker news website, also confirmed that GBT is undergoing efforts to pursue a Spanish gaming license, as the market there shall be regulated separately similar to France or Italy as of 2012. In total, 61 companies had reportedly shown interest in this specific license, with the Spanish market now being quite large and profitable to companies like Pokerstars, 888, and Party Poker to name a few. Presumably, GBT wishes to enter the Spanish market in the same fashion, as they have already made clear intentions that should everything go smoothly they would like to re-open Full Tilt as early as January.

Whatever the case, it seems clear that events are coming to their climax between the three factions, with the rest of the steps likely to take place in the coming weeks. As always,  Poker NZ will continue to follow the updates, and look forward to the diversification that re-opening a site like Full Tilt may bring to the current online poker climate.

By JAMES PUGSLEY, 20th November, 2011

While the DOJ has released liability from most FTP shareholders, individual indictments to those such as Howard Lederer remain.

Late Thursday the 16^th of November, multiple news sources confirmed that French investment firm Groupe Bernard Tapie has finalized the purchase of Full Tilt Poker’s assets through the U.S. Department of Justice. The agreement involves the repayment of players internationally, while U.S. based players will be repaid via the DOJ. Exact details of repayment are unclear, but Tapie has confirmed that they have the funds to carry out such a venture, with player funds worldwide totalling nearly $350 million. The arrangement was confirmed independently by CNN, The Wall Street Journal, and PokerNews, amongst others.

CNN commented that this arrangement essentially dissolved the U.S. government’s plans to pursue civil forfeiture proceedings, meaning that FTP’s assets would be released to Bernard Tapie provided that FTP shareholders agree to the $80 million dollar sale. Given the circumstances, it seems extremely likely that the mandatory two-thirds of shareholders would agree. The deal does not, however, disregard individual indictments taken out against key FTP shareholders Howard Lederer, Ray Bitar, Chris Ferguson and Ray Furst. On the matter of those individuals, Full Tilt attorney Jeff Ifrah commented that the deal “will have no impact on individual proceedings, but it removes the potential liability for shareholders, as it removes all pending proceeds against FTP.”

Moving forward, Groupe Bernard Tapie has also made it clear that they intend to re-open Full Tilt, and keep the brand. When interviewed by IGaming France regarding the matter, Tapie affirmed: “The brand is not in question, it’s a well-known brand and the technology is widely recognized as being possibly the best in the industry. The management of the company is being questioned and it will be changed [should the takeover be concluded]. I believe we have the tools necessary to once again make the site one of the leaders in the online poker sector.” When asked when such a re-opening may occur, Tapie stated that if everything ran smoothly, the site could be back in action as early as January.

Stay tuned to PokerNZ as we follow the progress of the deal and FTP’s re-emergence into the international online poker market.

By JAMES PUGSLEY, 4th November, 2011

FTP CEO Ray Bitar.

Over the last few days a Subject:Poker has had a number of sources confirm that Groupe Bernard Tapie (GPT) – a French investment company interested in purchasing and taking over Full Tilt, have nearly solidified an arrangement to have all players paid back. The company has a wealth of experience, including recovering the Adidas brand, which was, at the time, behind the rest of the market.  The arrangement itself entails an agreement that was reached between the US Department of Justice and GPT, where GPT would be responsible for payment of players internationally, and the DOJ responsible for paying the US customer base.

In response to the tentative agreement, CEO Ray Bitar passed on the following email to Tiltware shareholders:

Dear members,

I am pleased to announce that today the Department of Justice and Groupe Bernard Tapie have reached an agreement in principle regarding the acquisition of the companies comprising Full Tilt Poker. My understanding is the deal provides that in exchange for an agreed upon payment by GBT, and a GBT commitment to assume responsibility for payment of ROW players, DOJ will reimburse US players and settle the outstanding civil litigation with the companies comprising FTP. Beyond these conditions, issues like the time frame and process for repayment of players remain unclear at this point and time.

With DOJ’s consent now in hand, GBT may now proceed to finalize an agreement to acquire the companies or assets that comprise FTP. That agreement will very likely address the status of your shares or interests in the successor company. When I receive that agreement, I will coordinate with our attorneys to ensure the terms of that proposed agreement will be shared with the membership and voted on.

-Ray

While other sources such as PokerNews.com and PocketFives.com have confirmed that this arrangement has not been set in stone, additional details and finalities should come to the foray in the coming weeks. As for GBT’s stance on repaying players and re-opening Full Tilt Poker for play, Tapie confirmed his intentions to open the site as early as January, provided that the rest of the process runs relatively smoothly.

Other independent news sources have also reported that GBT contracted Red-Poker, the biggest Spanish based poker community and news website, who conducted a survey with a number of players who have a large amount of money tied up in FTP. The survey itself looked at payment options for players who had a large equity stake in the site, offering gradual payment, stock options, or other possibilities for paying back large amounts which presumably could not be available immediately to all players on an international level. Stay tuned to PokerNZ for future updates regarding the FTP saga as it unfolds in the coming weeks.

By JAMES PUGSLEY, SEPTEMBER 22nd, 2011

Yesterday breaking news came to the foray when former Full Tilt “Red Pro” Tom “Durrrr” Dwan came forward to the online poker community to divulge all information he could regarding Full Tilt’s recent behaviour and operations since Black Friday. The answers came at first from a thread which Dwan created on the 2+2 forums, where he offered up a post to contextualize the situation, and then followed to answer questions. The full 2+2 thread can be found here.

Tom Dwan is the first Full Tilt "Red Pro" to come forward about FTP.

Dwan had not previously been able to come forward due to a non-disclosure agreement he had entered with Full Tilt, which effectively became void this week after the U.S. Department of Justice declared Full Tilt “a massive Ponzi scheme against its own players” on September 21^st, naming a new list of individuals who were to be included in the original Black Friday indictment. The names listed this time specifically included Howard Lederer, Chris Ferguson, and Rafe Furst.

The Department of Justice condemned Full Tilt’s apparent inability to segregate player funds from their own working capital, with U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara stating the following:

“Full Tilt insiders lined their own pockets with funds picked from the pockets of their most loyal customers while blithely lying to both players and the public alike about the safety and security of the money deposited.” Allegedly, Full Tilt paid its executives and pros $443 million over the last four years.”

Dwan later explained that it had not been so simple, and that even those at the top tiers of management in Full Tilt may not have been aware of the loop holes which ultimately caused the funds disparity leading to this issue. The disparity had mainly stemmed from a difficulty with processing times on U.S. based payment processors, which meant that at times the funds were not properly allocated from both ends until up to 6 months later. Dwan mentioned that he thought FTP had made a slew of bad decisions since their indictment, but that in general, the intentions to pay players back had been genuine.

Howard Lederer, the co-owner of FTP beside Ray Bitar, has been largely silent since Black Friday.

Howard Lederer, who heads Full Tilt’s operations along with Ray Bitar, was also mentioned in Dwan’s discussions. Despite the massive scrutiny Lederer has faced, Dwan seemed at least somewhat satisfied with how Howard had conducted himself:

“Howard, to his credit, has been very open and picked up the phone and answered questions. I haven’t caught him in a lie yet, and just like anyone who’s in a position that he’s in, I’ve obviously tried because it’s hard to trust someone in his position. There have been times that he’s avoided a question or two, or maybe told a half truth, but it’s still pretty strong for him not to have lied yet. Now who knows, maybe he’s out there lying to everyone else and not me.”

Overall though, there was some justification which occurred on Dwan’s end. He admitted that while he had previously thought Full Tilt’s chances of finding an investor had been quite good when he attended a meeting in Ireland at the company’s headquarters in late April, this was because he valued the power of Full Tilt’s brand and previous peak prior to Black Friday.

Tom also clarified his situation in the 2010 WSOP, where he went heads up for much more than the eventual first place prize that kiwi Simon Watt eventually took home, as Dwan was playing for bracelet side bets that would nearly “double his net worth.” Dwan explained that if he was a “scumbag” he could’ve simply offered Watt double what first place was in order for him to lose, and because he did not, his intentions are not financially orientated.

Whatever the case, the outlook for Full Tilt does not look promising. They continue their look for investors, but with the total player funds owed internationally reportedly sitting at around $390 million, it’s certainly going to be an uphill battle. Also of interest, was Full Tilt’s private hearing with the Alderney Gambling Commission which took place this week on Monday. As of yet no news has come forward regarding any progress for Full Tilt’s gaming license, but Poker NZ will remain in the hunt as more information develops.